The train was not moving in the traditional sense. There was no jolt, no forward momentum in the carriages. And yet, when I looked out the window, I saw Blackridge slowly fading away—replaced by a dense, endless layer of fog, as if some invisible void was swallowing the world whole.
A few moments later…
Adrian walked quietly down the corridor. Just then, he suddenly bumped into another passenger.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered.
leaning slightly toward the man in the gray coat.
There was no response.
As Adrian's eyes slowly lifted to the man's face, he noticed something deeply unsettling. The man's eyes were open—but there was no life in them. They were completely hollow, empty where the pupils should have held meaning. Perhaps he was distracted… or perhaps something else entirely.
His skin was unnaturally pale, almost translucent—as though light passed straight through him and dissolved into the darkness behind.
Adrian leaned in closer.
And then he saw it.
The man had no shadow.
A cold current slid down Adrian's spine. He had never believed in ghosts—but what he was seeing with his own eyes…
A few minutes later—
The child clutching the red balloon stepped in front of him.
"Where are you going?"
She asked
The balloon trembled slightly.But the child did not move.
Then he heard it.
Footsteps.
Not his own.
Someone was walking behind him. Following him. Slowly. Deliberately.
Adrian turned around abruptly.
The corridor was completely empty.
And yet the sound remained—exactly one step behind him.
He began to walk faster.
The footsteps matched his pace.
Same rhythm. Same distance.
Suddenly, Adrian stopped.
The footsteps stopped too.
His heartbeat began to pound harder and louder in his ears.
"Who's there?" he asked, his throat dry.
Silence spread through the corridor.
Within seconds, the air beside him changed. It grew heavy—thick—like someone unseen was standing very close.
Close enough that he could almost feel the warmth of their breath.
And then—
The conductor appeared at the far end of the carriage. He wore a uniform with no railway insignia.
"You should not seek what you cannot see," he said calmly.
His voice was strange—layered, echoing—like multiple voices speaking in perfect harmony.
Fear tightened in Adrian's chest.
"Who are they?" he asked.
The conductor tilted his head.
"They are in between."
"In between what?" Adrian pressed.
The conductor's pale eyes locked onto his.
"Between their final breath… and their final memory."
Suddenly, a blinding light flashed through the corridor.
For one second—just one—Adrian saw the impossible.
Every passenger's face changed.
They were screaming—
Not with their mouths—
But with their eyes.
Frozen in the final instant of death.
And beside each of them—
An empty space.
A faint outline.
As if something invisible was sitting next to them.
I'm Watching everything.
I'm Waiting.
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